When Romi Dias’ mother comes to Denver, she will give her daughter a big hug. But first, she’ll have to set down the Tupperware bowl full of caldo verde, the Portuguese soup Dias craves when she’s away from home.
The New Jersey-born actress has spent the past couple of months here preparing for her role as nanny Ana Hernandez in the Denver Center Theatre Company’s domestic comedy “Living Out,” and her mom’s soup isn’t the only thing she misses. “I get food cravings all the time, like matzo-ball soup and corned beef sandwiches,” says the actress, who now lives in New York City.
In a separate performance Sunday for Stories on Stage, “A Readable Feast,” Dias will read from Isabel Allende’s collection of erotic food stories, “Aphrodite,” and the custard-cooking scene from “Like Water for Chocolate.”
“Food is life, especially in Latino cultures,” says Dias, whose parents are Portuguese and Brazilian. “I remember cooking with my mom, my sister and my aunt. My mother makes feasts: seafood, rice, meat, amazing homemade soup. When Mom comes to Denver, she will bring caldo verde – potato broth and collards. It’s very simple to make and hard to make at the same time because you have to put the love in it.”
The same goes for “A Readable Feast,” dramatic readings of stories about food by Allende, Laura Esquivel, M.F.K. Fisher, Russell Baker and others. Since the series began in 2001, director Norma Moore has wanted to dedicate a show to food.
“I come from a family that is food-obsessed. My husband (actor Randy Moore) is a serious foodie – he makes it, cooks it, grows it. Travel to him is about food,” says Moore. “My mother always talked about ‘the food’ – ‘the food was good, the food wasn’t very good.’ The cultural thing about food is just endless, and the mom thing is endless. Therapists will tell you that food is ‘Mom.”‘
Moore’s role as director casts her as a mother of sorts to the cast and the audience. “We feed our audiences cookies and milk after the show. It’s an act of hospitality and a way of building community – you’re being nurtured. And the whole food thing around actors is important. We feed them before the show.”
The show differs from a play in that there’s no plot, no scenery, no other actors sharing the spotlight. “Reading is more personal – in a play you have makeup, light, it’s more conventional,” says Moore. “This is an experience of great freedom, and actors love this. They’re alone on the stage, and they can fly. They fly with what they discover with the audience.”
By nurturing the actors and the audience, Moore hopes to create concentric rings of connection through the community via Stories on Stage. The nonprofit group formed six years ago to present dramatic readings of fiction and aims to bring performance to people who normally never enter a theater.
“We’re an entertainment form – people come to laugh and cry and hear stories,” says Moore. “Take a brilliant actor and extraordinary writing, and something very magical happens. Our work is about bringing many cultural perspectives together, bringing people together across differences.”
She hopes to attract a diverse audience to better reflect the community, to hear the way the laughter shifts when the audience members come from varied backgrounds. “These stories remind us of what we share, how much resonance food has.”
She turns to Dias, who is practicing her lines for our photographer. “Romi – the fritters equal the earth, the real reality is the fritters. They come from generations past.”
Dias responds: “I love these characters because they are so passionate. The relationships are so interesting to me – marriage, food and family rivalries.”
Food and storytelling serve to pass on the passions and traditions of one generation to the next, so it’s no wonder Moore was attracted to this theme. It’s human nature, says anthropology professor Arthur Campa, who is also an adjunct in Chicano studies at Metropolitan State College. Whether the reasons are social, spiritual, religious or theatrical, gatherings around food in any society break down barriers.
“Look at our own culture – when we meet friends we do it over lunch or over dinner. Food is the essence of life, this is what keeps humans going. Look at the Day of the Dead that’s coming up, where they provide food for the departed. It’s for the here-and-now and the everafter.”
Like the stories themselves.
Food editor Kristen Browning-Blas can be reached at 303-954-1440 or kbrowning @denverpost.com.
“A Readable Feast”
DRAMATIC READINGS|Stories on Stage|From works by Isabel Allende, Alice Walker and others|Directed by Norma Moore|Stage Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets|SUNDAY| 2 and 7 p.m.|$20|303-494-0523 or storiesonstage.org
